Translocation and Memory:Cultural Experiences as Artistic influence

Abstract

I construct two dimensional and three dimensional collages where the idea of identity and memory are conceived through the use of cultural signs. This paper discusses how reciprocal cultural experiences in different geographic locations like Calgary, Alberta and Antioquia, Colombia, have nurtured creative art production. Drawing on multiple theories of signs, I interrelate cultural memory and identity in response to my experience in a new location. Personal development through the experience of travel is a source for artistic inspiration. Through making collage, whereby materials and images are combined from different contexts, I establish a communication via cultural signs that derive from personal associations with geography and culture. As a “detective“ of my own identitiy, the evidence of semantic memory in my artistic practice, reafirms the communicative function of art.